


Sayaka Maizono and the Braided Lemon Donuts

by zenonaa



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Togafuka Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 12:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2388608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Ah, Ibuki held down the B button too much so the dialogue whizzed by before you could read it.” She inhaled loudly and then said in a monotone, “Your class must put together four music acts for a concert. Phew!” Her tone lightened. “Ibuki sounded so unibuki that she nearly changed into the stoic. So, so, let’s see what everyone’s got. Who can play an instrument? Hands in the air! Waving them around is optional.”</p><p>Togami finds himself in a band.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sayaka Maizono and the Braided Lemon Donuts

Fanfare accompanied Ibuki Mioda’s frolic through the classroom, if one could call the hum of a kazoo and the patter of a tambourine fanfare. Two students shuffled in after her: someone Byakuya Togami knew only as the person who impersonated him until he, the real Byakuya Togami, enrolled at Hope’s Peak the following year, and a boy wearing a beanie hat. This boy had a yellow kazoo in his pouting mouth while Byakuya’s former impostor, today with blue hair, carried a tambourine, and both stopped playing their instruments when Ibuki came to a halt by the whiteboard.

“Hey-ABC, every-boh-D!” Ibuki let go of her guitar, letting it swing backward on the rainbow strap slung over her shoulder.

The class in front of her merely stared. Their homeroom teacher turned to the next page of his book, unperturbed, so they assumed that Ibuki had permission to come in.

Leon Kuwata glanced over his shoulder at Mondo Oowada.

Mondo shrugged.

“Open your ears because Ibuki has an important important bulletin to dispatch! It took two arcs and a dozen filler episodes, but Ibuki has finally got the go for a concert!” Ibuki jabbed at the air with an index finger, nodding her head in a succession of jerks. “That’s right, folks. To raise money for the music department, everyone is going to perform a song on stage. Your class has been allocated four slots so Ibuki is going to hang, draw and quarter you.” She chopped the air twice, once horizontally and once vertically. “Any questions?”

Chihiro Fujisaki raised a trembling hand.

“Yes?” Ibuki put a hand to her forehead and squinted.

“C-Could you please repeat the last part?” Chihiro asked, elbow sagging. “I’m sorry but I don’t think I caught what you said at the end...”

“Ah, Ibuki held down the B button too much so the dialogue whizzed by before you could read it.” She inhaled loudly and then said in a monotone, “Your class must put together four music acts for a concert. Phew!” Her tone lightened. “Ibuki sounded so unibuki that she nearly changed into the stoic. So, so, let’s see what everyone’s got. Who can play an instrument? Hands in the air! Waving them around is optional.”

Byakuya raised his hand.

Touko Fukawa’s arm twitched upward.

“I can play the recorder,” Aoi Asahina piped up, resting an elbow onto her desk. Her wrist flopped forward. “If that counts...” She hooked a finger around the corner of her mouth. “I haven’t played one for years so I probably can’t now. Heh, I guess I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Nah,” Ibuki shook her head, “it’ll come back to Aoi-chan once Ibuki reunites her with her old flame. So! Do! Not! Worry! Now... ah, what about you, Sayaka-chan?” She bounded over to Sayaka’s desk.

“Singing is all I can do,” Sayaka Maizono confessed, shrinking away slightly from Ibuki’s sudden intrusion into her personal space. “I guess I could play a tambourine?”

Ibuki brought her fists to her chin, eyes twinkling. “Voice is toots an instrument! Especially if it’s a cute girl and Ibuki has heard Sayaka-chan sing!”

“Oh, in that case...” She lifted her hand.

Leon Kuwata stretched his arm toward the ceiling shortly after.

“Eh?” Ibuki’s eyebrows sprung upward. “Ibuki has never seen Leon-chan in the music hall or in the practice rooms, and Ibuki keeps a sleeping bag and set of toiletries there.”

“I’m just starting out,” Leon explained. “I’ve been practicing in my room and not to brag or anything...” He prodded himself on the chest. “But I’m pretty damn awesome.”

Someone muffled a cough and the room fell silent.

“Huh...” Ibuki scratched the back of her neck, realising no one else intended to put themselves forward. “Ibuki is...” She released a bark of laughter that shook her whole body. “Ununderwhelmed! The concert is in two months and that’ll give Ibuki plenty of time to help you all find your soul instruments. Okay, Touko-chan and Byakuya-chan, what instruments can you play?”

Byakuya grimaced at his nickname.

“I-I can play the piano,” Touko said, more to the wall beside her than to Ibuki. “But don’t expect it to satisfy your lowbrow standards...”

Putting others down before they could do the same to her: how predictable. So predictable, in fact, that it failed to offend Ibuki.

Maintaining her grin, Ibuki turned to Byakuya.

“As for me, I can play several instruments,” Byakuya replied. “Violin, piano, flute... as expected from a genuine Togami.”

The impostor pressed their lips together, peering down at their wrung together hands.

Leon rolled his eyes.

“Ah, the all-around group,” Ibuki said, wrinkling her nose in thought. “Let’s see... Touko-chan, Byakuya-chan, Aoi-chan and Sayaka-chan can be in the first group. You guys sit together and earn at least six hearts while Ibuki sorts the others into tiers. The others,” she held out her arms, “gather around Ibuki so she can sense your soul instrument with her built-in radar.”

Byakuya remained seated, not meeting anyone’s gaze even when he heard the other people in his group drag over chairs from neighbouring desks so they could all sit in a circle together.

His group could have been worse, he supposed. Their knowledge of music would prove useful to him despite not being comparable to his own and Ibuki could always tutor them; they were of little concern to him. What he really needed to ensure was that Touko kept her strange attachment to him in check. It wouldn’t do to have either Touko or more importantly him distracted by her nonsense.

On the flipside, he could employ her as his errand girl with the added bonus that she would keep her whining to a minimum. The world needed more people willing to do his bidding.

None of this changed the fact that he felt no desire to perform with them. Or at all.

“Playing an instrument sounds cool,” Sayaka finally said. “I always wanted to learn one but I never had the chance to between shows and appearances.”

Aoi offered her a small grin. “Same, only sports won me over.”

Touko emitted a restrained snort.

The rest of the class were sorted into three groups. Byakuya gave them a fleeting look - in one group was Leon, Kiyotaka Ishimaru and the twins. Another contained Yasuhiro Hagakure, Kyouko Kirigiri, Celestia Ludenberg and Makoto Naegi. In the final group was the rest of the class, by which time Byakuya had lost interest in keeping track of who was with who and Ibuki began to address the class again.

“For the concert, everyone has to come up with an original piece of music up to five minutes long.” Ibuki paused for what Byakuya assumed to be dramatic effect. “This is so you can all shine as much as possible. Everyone is responsible for their own music composition, lyrics, costumes and even the band name! Though Ibuki is happy to help with band names! Though Ibuki is happy to help with band names! Ibuki said it three times because Ibuki is happy to help with band names!”

What Byakuya anticipated to be a minor distraction threatened to become something bigger and a lot more annoying.

Ibuki bowed, chirruped, “Come to Ibuki for more terms and conditions,” and then played a guitar solo on her way out of the room.

Her helpers walked out shortly after, the one in the beanie hat spitting out his kazoo as soon as he passed through the doorway.

* * *

“Huh, Byakuya-chan wants to just donate money directly to the fundraiser? Yowzah, check out that cheat code! Ibuki doesn’t feel like playing the ending credits for someone who’s trying to skip the final boss.”

“No can do. This is compulsory. Even the chairs have to attend and they’re just being sat on. Mr. Headmaster-sir-chan said everyone has to take part. Also this performance is going toward your high score. Whoops, did Ibuki forget to mention that before? Everything will be graded, even your costumes and your personality!”

“Byakuya-chan’s class already has four groups and Ibuki can’t break what has been made. Ibuki worked hard to find the right balance for perfect unity. Changing things will upset the feels!”

“It has to be original! Ibuki can’t go to prison yet! Though Ibuki wouldn’t mind swapping black for orange if she’d meet a lot of cuties... No!”

He reluctantly accepted that he had no escape.

* * *

Byakuya’s group sat at a table in one corner of the library. The three girls were opposite him, with Aoi and Touko either side of Sayaka. Though Byakuya frequented the library, he always did so by himself if he could help it; the only exception was Touko and her tendency to skulk nearby, but she always left when he told her to. Sometimes, if he was in a good enough mood, he allowed her to stay until she became a nuisance.

A glance at his watch informed him that they had been there for half an hour. Words had been exchanged, the few song ideas brought to the group’s attention neatly written in Sayaka’s notebook, and the group cycled through several periods of silence and forced conversation.

Sayaka eyed her notebook, which contained more doodles of flowers with looping stems than ideas. “Hm.” She furrowed her brow and tapped her pen tunelessly.

Touko glared at her sidelong. “Y-You’re an idol, aren’t you? You perform songs all the time... or are you going to tell us that you’re useless without a puppeteer?”

“My songs were always written for me,” Sayaka said with a frown. Her pen stopped tapping. “Fukawa-san, you’re a writer. Maybe you could write the lyrics?”

“Th-That’s like telling a sushi chef to bake a wedding cake! They aren’t alike at all. B-Besides, I don’t care for songs... I prefer instrumentals...”

“But you’re so talented, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to come up with something.”

“Keh!”

Aoi punched the air with both fists. “Come on, guys. We can’t just sit around with nothing to show for it. We don’t even have a name for our act.”

The librarian stopped at their table to hush them and the group didn’t speak until she strode off.

“We can decide on a name later,” Byakuya said, speaking for the first time since the meeting started if one omitted his occasional grunts of acknowledgement. “The performance is still more than a month away.”

“Togami, you play a bunch of instruments.” Aoi turned her head slightly. “Can’t you like... make a song and then we can think of lyrics to go along with it?”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I play, as you said, a ‘bunch of instruments’. While I can read sheet music, I’ve never had much interest in writing my own when other people can do it for me. Moreover, none of the music I am into contains lyrics.”

Aoi slumped forward and groaned, squishing her face against the table.

Five minutes of frustrated silence followed.

“Well...” Sayaka stood up, pulling her satchel strap over her shoulder. “I’ve got singing tuition in ten minutes so you guys will have to continue without me... I’m really sorry but I can’t miss this.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” Aoi assured her, also rising. She snapped her fingers. “Hey, I know. We should all go do what we love and then we’re sure to get inspired. Nothing pumps me up more than swimming, for example. And... well, being in this place just makes me want to fall asleep.”

Byakuya had far more important things to do than think of a suitable subject for their piece: he managed companies that needed to be streamlined, there were business offers in need of his expert analysing and he had school work to keep ahead of. Now he was stuck with three people he cared little for and their input affected his grade. The dependency almost made him gag.

Their next meeting took place the following week in a practice room that Sayaka managed to secure them and Byakuya arrived there early with his violin. In fact, he thought he got there first until he heard piano music. He assumed it was performed by a student who booked an earlier timeslot, but then he looked up and through the door’s vision panel.

Seated at the piano was Touko. Her fingers glided across the keys, drawing out a melody he couldn’t recognise. She continued playing, having not noticed him, body swaying and shoes bumping together.

His hand rested against the metal push plate of the door.

Whatever she was playing wasn’t overly complicated yet the simplicity had no negative impact on the quality. The music flowed with little shakiness or falter and he suspected that what it did shake with was intentional, reminding him of the rippling surface of a pond. Sometimes she paused, allowing a note to ring out until it nearly faded away before replacing the waning sound with a stronger one. After a while, the pace picked up with little time lapse between each touch, though the music quickened for but a short time; it receded into a slowness that a cloud drifted past with.

The piece wafted out from the gap underneath the door and he stared at her, his hand dropping to his side. From where he stood, he couldn’t see much of her face, but she played with half-lidded eyes that he wasn’t used to seeing without a scowl or a smirk. Her mouth hung open, showing a hint of teeth, reminiscent of the sheen of light on the recently polished piano. Although the serenity wasn’t something he usually associated her with, he found it a pleasant change.

Touko turned her head absentmindedly and spotted him. She gasped, pounding a discordant combination of notes that made Byakuya wince.

“Togami-kun!” she said with a yelp, throwing up her hands as if the piano keys had seared her fingers. “I... I didn’t see you!”

He opened the door, his ears still buzzing from the piece’s jarring finish. “What were you playing?”

“Ah...” Touko fidgeted. “I... I improvised the tune...”

Byakuya closed the door behind him. “It was of your own creation?”

Her cheeks coloured. “Y-Yes. At home, I had a piano... a-and sometimes, if I got stuck on my writing or wanted to expand upon a delusion, I would play a random tune until I was inspired if none of my CDs seemed appropriate.”

“Then that settles it.” Byakuya flicked his wrist. “You will imagine a story and we will base our performance on that.”

“Eh?” Touko flailed her arms. “M-Me? But... I...!”

“Yes, you.” Byakuya sat on the stool next to hers, laying his violin case down onto the carpet. He reached into his bag for paper and a pen. “If what you create is good enough, I shall make a note of it. You’re fully capable of doing it, Fukawa, so don’t waste more of my time.”

To his frustration, she didn’t play straight away. She only bit her lip.

His arm brushed against hers as he shifted a little. “Fukawa, perform the piece I heard before I came in. We’ll build upon that.”

It couldn’t be healthy to be as red as she was. Touko inhaled deeply and began to play as before albeit more shakily. As the piece progressed, however, she relaxed and the tension drained from her body.

Byakuya occasionally supplemented her tune, playing a couple of keys with one hand. Once she had a firmer idea on what she was doing, he got out his violin and accompanied her.

She glanced at him, confused, though she swiftly returned her attention to the piano after he shot a glare in her general direction.

Their music whirled around them, enveloping the pair until Byakuya remembered with a jolt that he was supposed to be taking notes, not joining in. He would have to perform with her later anyway, so he lowered his violin to the floor and jotted down what she played. For some reason, his focus kept drifting from her fingers to the side of her face, and he wouldn’t realise until the piece’s rhythm changed. Byakuya dismissed his straying attention as a symptom of boredom.

Just short of five minutes later, Touko withdrew her hands. “... That’s it.”

Not all of it could be used but anything was an improvement over the nothing they had before.

“That wasn’t too hard, was it?” He pushed up his glasses with two fingers. “What was the piece about?”

Touko mumbled something.

His brow creased. “Say it again but in a louder voice.”

“A boy,” Touko blurted out. She cupped a hand over her mouth.

Byakuya nearly smiled at the predictable answer but instead rolled his eyes. “Typical. I needn’t have asked. Anyway...” He realised their legs were touching so pointed his knees away from her. “... You did a satisfactory job.”

The door opened and Sayaka and Aoi barged in.

“Fukawa-chan, that was great!” Aoi’s eyes shone. “Did you make it up yourself?”

Touko recovered quickly and frowned. “... Yes. But we don’t have any lyrics for it...”

By the window was a plastic chair. Sayaka seated herself on it, sitting up against the side as much possible so Aoi could join her.

“We’ve actually been here sometime but you two looked so into it that we didn’t want to interrupt,” said Sayaka, not meeting their gaze. “Sorry if that was rude... We couldn’t help ourselves.” This answer didn’t appease Touko, going by her darkened features. Sayaka, meanwhile, had broken into a warm smile. “So how about we get started on the lyrics together? This song is going to be pretty different to what I usually sing but I'm happy to try something new. Personally, your piece reminded me of a day at the seaside.”

Aoi scratched the top of her head. “Really? I imagined myself diving into a pool.”

As their interpretations merged together into a song about the start of a journey, Byakuya studied Touko out of the corner of his eyes.

* * *

The four students waited offstage on folding garden chairs, listening to the act before theirs. To avoid getting stripes imprinted on the back of her bare legs from the seat, Sayaka had positioned herself somewhere between sitting and standing - it resulted in a half-hearted crouch. According to Ibuki, they didn’t need cushions because they would be jumping around and dancing in a matter of seconds.

Aoi’s foot swung from side to side. “This is it, huh.”

“Mm,” went Sayaka, plucking at the hem of her skirt. All the girls wore matching puffy dresses obtained from Sayaka’s wardrobe, though Touko’s skirt was longest and Aoi’s dress had sleeves. Sayaka paused. “Mioda-san did a good job sorting everyone into groups. Kuwata-kun and the others really go together.”

If ‘go together’ meant ‘Leon shouted lyrics, Junko strummed a guitar, Kiyotaka furiously patted a tambourine and sang backup vocals while Mukuro played the drums’, then sure. At best, their song would be remembered for a short time and soon forgotten about.

Touko craned her neck to the side, taking a peek at the audience. The main stage had been set up on the school field and rows of silhouettes lay beyond the curtains that hid her and the other three from view. Stage lights bled into the late hour’s darkness, as did the many outdoor light fittings, though they weren’t enough to make any face distinct. She gulped and retracted her neck. “There’s... a lot of people...”

“Of course there is,” said Byakuya. “We’re students at Hope’s Peak.”

This did nothing to calm her nerves. “Th-They’re all going to see how fat and ugly I am...”

“You’re not either of those things,” said Sayaka. “Though being them isn’t bad...” Sayaka tapped her chin twice. “All you need to do is smile and you’ll dazzle everyone.” She demonstrated with one of her own.

“Feh!” Touko gripped her skirt tightly, bunching up handfuls of ruffles. “Smile... Are you hoping I blind them with my teeth so they can’t see the rest of me?”

Sayaka’s shoulders declined. “I didn’t mean it like that...”

“Fukawa-chan, it’s okay if you’re scared.” Aoi reached over to playfully nudge her shoulder against Touko. “I mean... I am too, sort of.” She let out a nervous giggle, the generous application of eyeliner around her eyes making them seem larger than usual. “But we’ll be fine, right? We’ve practiced lots and we all had a makeover... We really look the part! Maizono-chan worked magic on all of us.”

Yes. They all participated in a makeover, something Byakuya wanted to forget and something he regretted allowing himself be dragged into. Sayaka persuaded them all into having one and because she was a popular idol with a lot of experience in performing on stage, everyone consented with varying reluctance.

Getting a good grade would be worth it. It had to be. He refused to have dressed in tight leather for nothing.

The song ended to applause and hooting. Ibuki tramped onto the stage, waving rapidly and chattering to the audience while Byakuya’s group set up their instruments behind her. A piano was already onstage so it wouldn’t have to be carried on and off again, so Touko only had to take her place and wait.

Noise from beyond the brightly lit stage increased in volume when Sayaka stepped out. With almost everyone distracted by her and Ibuki introducing the band members, Byakuya wandered over to the piano.

Touko’s face was pale due to a combination of makeup, lighting and fretting. It wouldn’t surprise him if she vomited or fainted, seeing how much she shivered. They hadn’t started yet and she was already doubled over.

“Fukawa,” he said. Touko had been right; there were a lot of people here to see them. It failed to disconcert him, as one would expect.

“Hm?” she managed to say.

“Don’t let your anxiety hinder your playing. We’re depending on you.” Byakuya turned away, getting out his violin from its case. “I’m depending on you.” For a good grade. “Just imagine your story while you play. During that time, nothing else matters. You’ve proven previously that you’re capable of performing this piece so don’t aim for anything which is less than what I expect.”

She gargled in an unsuccessful attempt at responding.

Byakuya looked back to check whether she was suffocating and glimpsed the smile spreading across her lips. He swiftly faced the front and readied himself to play.

Ahead of them, Ibuki raised her voice and shouted over the audience’s rumbling without having to use a microphone. “Everyone relocate your heads after all that headbanging because the next song is ready to go! Ibuki is happy to introduce Sayaka Maizono and the Braided Lemon Donuts!”

Sayaka, Touko and Byakuya all looked at Aoi.

Aoi offered them a shrug and a tentative grin. “Mioda-chan helped come up with it at the last minute.” 

* * *

“I’d say that went pretty well,” said Aoi, hopping down the steps and joining the rest of the group at the bottom. “I mean, we didn’t goof up and everyone cheered. You know what?” She held up a fist. “I think we sounded great!”

Most of the students who already performed had joined the edge of the audience to listen to the rest of the acts. Sakura Oogami’s group were setting up and in the meantime, Ibuki and the kazoo player entertained everyone with a double act in which the latter was an unwitting straight man.

Aoi waved to the rest of the group and headed toward the audience with Sayaka close behind.

That left Byakuya with Touko. For two or three seconds, anyway, because he soon started for the dormitories. Byakuya didn’t know much about makeup but he hoped it wouldn’t take a long time to remove. His sweat had already attempted to wash some off: the stage had been incredibly hot so he most likely looked like a melting clown in bondage now, and the back of his hand was smudged with black and red streaks from where he had rubbed at his face.

“Togami-kun!” Touko caught up to Byakuya and walked abreast with him. Even in this outfit, he could outrun her but he found himself with no desire to escape. “I...! Back there, when you told me...!”

He waved a hand dismissively. “If you’re trying to thank me for motivating you, you don’t have to.”

“C-Can I do it anyway?”

The foundation that Sayaka had painted onto him cracked at the crevices of his face when he smirked. “... If you must.”

She opened her mouth.

“... You can thank me by finishing the rest of that instrumental piece,” he said. “I will personally ensure that it’s to my liking.”

“Eh?” Touko blinked a few times. “I... I thought it was finished?”

“No,” Byakuya decided. “I believe that was just the beginning.”

 


End file.
